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Forum:Church, State and the Reign of Christ Jesus . . .
Is Christian Theology inherently 'liberal' or 'conservative'? How does Christian Belief and Practice impinge upon the actual governing of human affairs? Although I am certainly no expert on this topic, the following set of reflections (as informed by M.Div. & Th.M. studies under the tutelage of Ethicist Stanley Hauerwas of Duke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Hauerwas and Ph.D. studies in Early Christian History and Ethics at the University of Notre Dame) will, I hope, serve as a rough 'guide' for the non-expert. A Historical Overview ---- In the Book of Revelation, contrary to Apocalyptic scenarios espoused by the Darbyist interpretation of Scripture in which ancient symbols are misinterpreted as pointing to 'realities' in the 20th century/21st century (for example, Hal Lindsey, the 'Left Behind' series), is centered in how Christians survived under the persecution of the Romans. From the Emperor Nero came the likely designation of '666' (according to scholars such as editor of the NRSV Bible, Bruce Metzger) which essentially meant that the Christian communities in Asia Minor (present day Turkey) had come under brutal persecution and that the calling for such early Christians was to persevere under such despotic rule! Enter Emperor Constantine. In response to a reported Divine Visitation by Christ, the pagan Emperor (who was later eventually baptized a Christian on his death-bed http://wikipedia.cas.ilstu.edu/index.php/Constantine_I_of_the_Roman_Empire decided to trust this 'New God' of the Christians and so on October 28, 312 A.D. the pagan Emperor actually had the audacity to utilize the Christian symbol of a 'chi-rho' as the military standard of his Roman legions. Following the battle of the Milvian Bridge the next move of the Emperor was to name Christianity as an official religion, granting it legal status and even establishing Sunday as a day of worship through the Edict of Milan of 313 A.D. Well after Constantine (who moved the imperial capital from Rome to Constantinople in 330 A.D. thus creating Byzantium), the well-known Bishop of Hippo, St. Augustine, would add Theological Reflection to the shifts in global power occuring in the tumultuous world of ancient Christendom. In his famous reflection City of God, Augustine compares the prevailing pagan social mores with the New Reign of Jesus Christ. Augustine, himself a converted 'pagan' who grew up in a Christian home (St. Monica was his mother), but who strayed into Manichean and neo-Platonic Thought (both views, that when combined, denied the importance of the physical body, and saw the world as composed of equal forces of 'good' versus 'evil' similar to Persian Zoroastrianism . . .), sought to somehow come to grips with a world crumbling around him. Although Emperor Constantine had safely relocated the Imperial Capital decades before, Augustine, still clinging to the 'hope of Rome' was appalled and dismayed when the City of Rome fell to Germanic barbarians. The final reflections of Augustine on 'Church-State' relations were simple. The City of God is that which belongs to heaven. The City of Man is that which belongs to earth. We are to live for the City of God while making do in the City of Man. Granted, Augustine, himself eager to put heretics to death, nonetheless was somewhat 'escapist' in his Theological Views. 'Rome' and the ACTUAL IMPERIAL CAPITAL, had quietly moved across the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople and for a period of over 1,000 years, the 'New Rome' not only stood, but prospered (only to eventually fall to the Islamic Turks on May 29, 1453 A.D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople). Byzantium, the 'New Rome,' contrary to the warring tribes of the West (united by the Pope and for a period also under the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne corronated in 800 A.D.) was the 'jewel' in the crown of Christian civilization. Emperors were not only tacitly Christian, but wealthy. War was a potentiality, especially with the encroachment of Islam, but nonetheless, for over 1,000 years, Christians ruled. Following the fall of Byzantium (partly at the hands of Western Crusaders who sacked Constantinople prior to the conquest of the city by Islam!), the 'Church-State' question revolved around a variety of disputes between an increasingly centralized papacy and various 'Divine Right' monarchies. Whereas in the East, 'Church and State' were one single entity (Christ the Pantocrator with the Emperor as 'head of Church and State'), in the West, the division between ecclesiastical rule and civic government persisted, at least until the coming of the Church of England with King Henry VIII and then solidified under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. The coming of the U.S.A. on the world stage, although at the time a minor 'ripple' in what was essentially several centuries of European colonial domination (1492 - 1900's), was nonetheless striking for its structural secularism. Contrary to some Evangelical Protestant Christian apologists, compared to the Christian Imperium of Anglicanism (or German State-Lutheranism) OR the divided rule of 'Pope' and 'King' of Catholic Europe (Spain, Italy, Portugal), the birth of the U.S.A. was as a secular government. Granted many Christian Revivals had swept throughout U.S. history (First and Second Great Awakenings, the Wesleyan "Methodist" movement, the Pentecostal/charismatic movement, and Protestant Baptist Revival), nonetheless compared to Europe, the U.S.A. was a secular Nation State since its founding. Granted, as a Christian, I am much in agreement with the Anglican model of Divine Right Kingship (a position also shared by University of Virginia's "Radical Orthodox" Theologian John Milbank), but, stated bluntly, the U.S., according to its Constitution is undeniably secular, neither establishing a state Church, nor prohibiting the 'Free Exercise of Religion.' In conclusion, the 'Future of the U.S.A.' may in fact have less to do with the U.S.A. (and even our Constitution!) than it does with an increasingly Global technologically-driven Western Liberal Democratic Spanish and English Imperium. Marxism has 'flared' up in Central and South America (for example, the recent attempt to remove presidential term limits by Venezuela's President Chavez), but nonetheless, throughout the Western World of the Americas, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (not to mention South Korea), Western Liberal Democracy is the form of human government that has been chosen by much of the world's population, and especially by that section of Global Population (2 billion, or more) that is named Christian. Therefore, although officially 'secular,' the U.S. as it is a neighbor to Latin America and fellow English-speakers with England, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa will obviously be 'culturally Christian,' both through transnational cooperation (trade and military protection of resources) and also through immigration from these fellow Christian lands (for example, South Korea and Mexico). Thus, the Reign of Jesus Christ, a Reign that began some 2,000 years ago, first surviving under persecution, then as the Cultural and Military Imperium of Rome, Byzantium and then Western Europe turned U.S.-Latin America is still alive and flourishing! Christendom does still exist and always will, but as Historian Phil Jenkins points out in his ground-breaking book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, the FUTURE is NOW for WORLD CHRISTIAN POWER! Whether it is Third World indigenous African pastors weilding high-tech equipment or Korean Chaplains serving in our very own U.S. Army, the "Global Christendom" which Jenkins describes IS the present-day reality of 2008 and beyond . . . Blessings in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King--RobJKing 22:49, 11 December 2007 (UTC)